Friday, January 10, 2014

This week, a reader called the Observer with an interesting question about Salisbury-based Food Lion's plans for its meat counters: Is the company planning to get rid of them?

The questioner had noticed the meat counter being removed at his local Cornelius store. We asked Food Lion spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown, who said no, that meat counter is just being switched to a different model "to make it more consistent with cases in our other stores."

Phillips-Brown said the company is running a pilot program at its Roanoke-area stores with new "sealed-fresh" beef products. Vacuum-packed in individual plastic, the cuts of beef arrive ready-to-sell at each store, meaning there's no need to cut meat in-store.

That frees up meat managers to possibly assume other duties, Phillips-Brown said. The pilot program hasn't run long enough to know what customers think or whether sealed-fresh beef will spread, she
said.

Click here for a November story from WSLS in Roanoke, in which Food Lion director of operations Rob Ward discusses the merits of sealed beef. It stays fresher longer, and no spilled blood from any packages in your refrigerator, said Ward.

Ward said the program is in 61 Roanoke-area stores. In the WSLS story, you can watch him and another Food Lion market manager grill a steak.

The packages resemble what you get at Trader Joe's, which doesn't have in-store butchering, but sells vacuum-packed individual cuts of beef.

Food Lion is a subsidiary of Belgian grocery conglomerate Delhaize. The company is attempting to improve its results and increase its market share under new CEO Beth Newlands Campbell, who put it simply in August: "We just have to get better."

8
comments:

I want the meat cut in front of me so I know it's fresh. I do NOT want a bunch of plastic involved, and I do NOT want to look at it and wonder: "how long did this sit around until they froze it.....and thawed it out to sell it today?"

Used to love food Lion but I will not buy slimmy, prepackaged meat. I want to talk to a butcher and order steaks and chops cut to the thickness I want. I know this is not a "TRIAL" at the store near me because they took out the windows and walled it in. I think the new black lion they put on their sign is a good indication of what people will do to them. Black list them. And that's just MY two cents.

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Katie Peralta

Katie Peralta

About this blog

Katie Peralta covers retail and breaking business news for the Charlotte Observer. She previously wrote about the U.S. economy from inside the Beltway. If you have a tip or story idea, you can reach Katie at 704-358-5079 or by email. She's also on twitter: @katieperalta.